Reporting on the removal of the monuments, Reuters said that Croatia was eager to keep its human rights and democracy
slate clean before European Union membership talks next year.
Reuters also said that the government ordered the removal of the two memorial plaques at a meeting late on Thursday and added that the cabinet also asked the Justice Ministry to draft amendments to the Penal Code to ban promoting all totalitarian ideologies, including communism and fascism.
France Presse said the Croatian government had ordered the removal of the memorial plaque commemorating Nazi-era minister Budak, and added that the erection of the monument violated the Croatian Constitution and harmed Croatia's reputation and the country's interests.
The agency said the plaque was unveiled at the initiative of a group of Croatian emigrants from Austrialia and Canada who wanted to pay tribute to Budak as a writer, not a minister. Budak was a writer who served as education minister in Croatia's Nazi-allied Ustasha government of 1941-45.
The agency said that some 100 Croatian right-wing intellectuals dismissed accusations against Budak and sent an apeal on Tuesday for the renewal of Budak's trial and rehabilitation.
Germany's DPA also reported on the removal of the monument to Mile Budak and Ustasha military commander Jure Francetic, founder of the notorious Black Legion that fought in Bosnia.
The news was also broadcasted by the US TV network ABC and reported in the ISraeli daily Haaretz.